Utah college student builds a nuclear fusion reactor.
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applemacdude
macrumors 68040
That son of a.....
ExoticFish
macrumors 6502a
wow... good job! no big deal for me though! my friends and family say that i create a nuclear reaction every time i'm in the bathroom!
Counterfit
macrumors G3
Reminds me of the story of a Boy Scout who built a working fission reactor in his parents' shed. He was arrested though, because he forged a few letters to get some of the required materials.
But this kid came in second? What the **** came in first? A working wormhole generator?!
But this kid came in second? What the **** came in first? A working wormhole generator?!
Mr. Anderson
Moderator emeritus
What I don't get is that he found some of these parts in a junk yard....who throws out a neutron detector?
Cool stuff, though .... I really want to know who won first place
D
Cool stuff, though .... I really want to know who won first place
D
Mr. Anderson
Moderator emeritus
Ok, a little searching of the website for the Contest
he got $3000.00 and shared 2nd place in the physics category with quite number of others.
1st place in physics went to
but the overall winners were
Looks like things were rigged to me
D
he got $3000.00 and shared 2nd place in the physics category with quite number of others.
1st place in physics went to
but the overall winners were
Looks like things were rigged to me
D
Vector
macrumors 6502a
I think the other people probably won because their ideas were more creative. A nuclear can be built by many people if they have the proper pieces and instruction, but the other projects like a new method, i assume its new, of measuring the distance to near earth asteroids and a brain computer interfacce are a bit more innovative. I think the other projects that won required more original thought.
Counterfit
macrumors G3
Right but this was a fusion reactor. You don't just buy the parts at Radio Shack. It's like a Sun mini in there!
Flynnstone
macrumors 65816
Maybe the others won because their projects were painted hot pink instead of dull grey
I have been to the place where he got some of that **** to build it, pretty cool. The University of Utah surplus is about 5 min away they have ALL kinds of cool ****. They had some huge neutron something, x-ray imagining tools, DNA sequencers all kinds of stuff! It's fun to just go there and look around.
benjaminpg
macrumors regular
Not to mention the incredible mac collection they have at the U surplus center. The Surplus center is great, although I haven't been very recently.
Have you ever bought anything there? I'm curious as to whether it has any sort of guarantee of whether it works.
Yeah I have, they were selling brand new apple pro speakers for $10 and they go for $30-40 on ebay. All of the stuff is AS IS so you can test it there but if it is broken when you get home you can't do anything about it. There stuff is so sepensive though! I was looking at the PDF list they have on the net of all their items and some prices for brand new stuff on ebay is less than their used prices. I was hoping that they would way under price somethings buy them then sell them on ebay but no....
Stelliform
macrumors 68000
I think his second place is fair, you have to remember the rule of a science fair. Usually the scientific process, not the wow factor. If his hypotheses was to replicate Farnsworth's work with budget hardware, then he succeeded in that. However, his hypotheses was weak. The other hypotheses may have had more innovation and been more aligned with the scientific process.
Don't get me wrong, it takes alot of balls to look at Farnsworth's designs and say, heh I bet I could build that... But like others have pointed out, the other fairs entries might have been more creative....
Don't get me wrong, it takes alot of balls to look at Farnsworth's designs and say, heh I bet I could build that... But like others have pointed out, the other fairs entries might have been more creative....